Joel Osteen

Joel Osteen (5 March 1963-) was an American televangelist from Houston, Texas.

Biography
Joel Osteen was born in Houston, Texas on 5 March 1963 to a Southern Baptist family, and he dropped out of Oral Roberts University to work for his father's religious show. Six days after preaching his first sermon, his father died of a heart attack, and he became the new senior pastor of the Lakewood Church. He was opposed to same-sex marriage, but he welcomed gay people to his church and generally avoided controversial topics. In 2008, he stated that he believed that Mormons were Christians, and, in 2011, he stated his support for the state of Israel. In August 2017, he became infamous for keeping his large church (a former basketball arena) closed during Hurricane Harvey, and he stated that it would only be opened to refugees after other centers were filled.